


How Ar-Amu Raised the Moons for Seven Days

by PrinceDarcy



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Gen, Miracles, Slavery, Storytelling, Tatooine Slave Culture, Tricksters, chosen families
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-02
Packaged: 2019-01-08 05:36:25
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,636
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12248055
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrinceDarcy/pseuds/PrinceDarcy
Summary: A story of a wager, a storm, and how Ar-Amu the Moonspinner helped two of her children win their freedom. And Ekkreth, of course.





	How Ar-Amu Raised the Moons for Seven Days

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Fialleril](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fialleril/gifts).



> Originally posted @skywvlked on Tumblr, this idea came from a lengthy linguistic journey trying to give a name to an Amavikka version of latkes. This is a story, very loosely inspired by the story of Chanukah, of how they came to be.
> 
> Based on Fialleril's meta about Tatooine slave culture; will probably not make sense without that lore as background. But what are you even doing if you haven't read that, anyway?

Once, long ago, there were two young slaves named Erato and Salha. While Depur had stolen them from different quarters, they were as inseparable as any blood siblings, and all the slaves in his palace knew that Erato was blessed with incredible wit and cunning, and Salha with great kindness and wisdom to match. Though Depur could never catch them, as children they got into a great deal of mischief, and as they became adults, they used their gifts to make sure that any child of Ar-Amu in need of help would never be left wanting.

One day, Depur discovered that all the ansar root in his kitchens had vanished. Furious, he ordered every slave in the palace lined up before him that he might determine who had stolen it. Though each slave shook their head and said they knew nothing of the theft, Depur noticed that several slaves he had ordered starved seemed quite strong and well. When at last he reached Erato and Salha, the pair suggested that it had been Ekkreth who had come in the night and stolen Depur’s stock of ansar, foiling Depur as the trickster always did. It was then that Depur was certain that Erato and Salha themselves were responsible, and had used the stolen ansar to feed those slaves who should have been weak with hunger by now.

Finally fed up with the trouble that the pair had caused him, Depur came up with a plan to punish them for daring to defy him and be rid of them once in for all. He did not have them beaten as he always did, but pretended to praise Erato and Salha for their insight, and claimed that he would give them a deal. He would send them out to trade on the other side of the Dune Sea, and if they returned with Ekkreth so that they might answer to Depur for their crime, and with as much ansar as five men could carry to replace what was stolen, they would be freed. If they failed, or if they did not return before the moons set the next morning, he would reset both their transmitters.

Though Depur had created a wager that would be impossible to win, the pair refused to be chastened or beg for forgiveness. Salha declared at once that he could capture Ekkreth by midday, and Erato that she could not only meet Depur’s demand, but bring back extra ansar besides. All the more enraged by their confidence, Depur demanded the slaves all leave his sight, and that Erato and Salha begin their journey with no food or water to bring with them. What Depur did not know was that the slaves in the palace had each set aside part of their ration of water to give Erato and Salha as thanks for their good deeds, so each went forward with enough water for eight days and eight nights. And with their packs on their backs, Erato and Salha set out across the Dune Sea.

They reached the merchants’ settlement just before nightfall, and though they had nothing with which to barter, many of Depur’s slaves had been sold to other masters among the traders and remembered Erato and Salha’s courage and kindness. Glad to repay past favors, they worked together to fill Erato and Salha’s packs with as many ansar roots as they could gather, until their packs were so heavy that they could barely carry them. Thought it was not as much as five men could carry, it was more than they had stolen, and they knew that the greedy Depur would be pleased. Another slave, an old man in tattered grey robes, captured a bright red songbird and presented it to them, so that they might take it back with them and claim it to be Ekkreth in disguise. The old man taught them a faster way to reach Depur’s palace, the better for them to reach it before the moons set in the morning.

Erato and Salha gratefully accepted his guidance, their hearts so lightened by the kindness they had been shown that their heavy packs felt as though they weighed nothing at all. And the two slaves began their journey back to the palace.

They traveled through the night along the route that the old man had shown them, but when the moons were at their peak, a vicious sandstorm hit, so sudden and violent that the winds knocked Erato and Salha off their feet, and all the ansar spilled out of Salha’s pack across the dunes. Erato helped Salha up, but as she did, the songbird the old man had given them pecked both their palms and flew away, disappearing into the raging sands. Though Erato had managed to hold onto her pack, only half the ansar remained; far less than what they had stolen.

Clasping their bleeding hands together, they pulled their thick hoods over their heads and squinted through the moonlight for any sign of shelter, finding, to their surprise, that the old man’s guidance had led them right to a cave big enough for them to hide until the storm died down. They knew that morning would likely come sooner than the storm would end, and with it Depur would detonate their transmitters, but with half the ansar and the songbird already lost, they decided they would rather die together and free than at Depur’s feet anyway. Their love for each other, now as blood-siblings, strengthened their hearts. And so they found their way to the cave to wait for morning.

But morning did not come. Though Erato and Salha could not see the moons through the storm, the suns did not rise in their place, and even after hours had passed, their detonators did not go off. They approached the mouth of the cave, curious as to why the night had not yet passed, and though they could see nothing, a soft voice spoke to them in the wind.

It was the voice of the desert, the voice of Ar-Amu, and she told them they were brave, and that she would protect them. She told them the storm would rage for seven days and nights, and so the moons, each of which was a piece of her heart, would not set until the storm had passed and they returned to the palace.

Then, Ar-Amu told them, they would win Depur’s impossible wager, and they would be free.

“But how will we win, Mother?” Erato asked.

“We do not have what Depur sent us for,” Salha said.

_ My son and daughter, _ the desert whispered,  _ Ekkreth is with you both, and their cunning will serve you well _ .

And when they returned to the cave, there was a crackling fire to keep them warm through seven sunless days and nights.

On the fourth day, when they knew they were growing too hungry to make the journey back, Erato and Salha had no choice but to eat some of the ansar roots left in Erato’s pack. They knew that they need not worry, as even though they did not yet know how they would win Depur’s wager, Ar-Amu had spoken to them, and she told them they were safe. Though they still could not see the moons that guarded them through the storm, they made the ansar into the shape of the three pieces of Ar-Amu’s heart and cooked them over the glowing fire, so they could remember that she was watching over them.

When the seventh night came and their water had nearly run out, the storm stopped, just as Ar-Amu had told them. And so Erato and Salha set out once more into the desert to return to Depur and win their freedom.

The moons began to set just as they arrived in front of Depur, kneeling at his feet, only Erato’s light pack between them.

“Where is Ekkreth?” Depur sneered nastily. “Where is the ansar I sent you for? You have failed, and you will die.”

Erato and Salha stood, clasping the hands the songbird had pecked together.

“Ekkreth is with my sister and I,” Salha said, “and always has been.”

“And we have what you demanded of us,” said Erato, and she took off her pack and dumped its contents at Depur’s feet. Inside were eleven ansar roots; as many as five men could carry in their two hands, and one extra, exactly as they had promised.

Depur howled with rage, furious at having been outsmarted. As he tried to reset Erato and Salha’s transmitters, however, the red songbird that had disappeared into the sandstorm flew into his throne room, pecking at his eyes and hands until he dropped the detonators and Erato and Salha could take them. And they did take them. They took them and ran from the palace with the most precious winnings any gambler on Tatooine could claim: their freedom. And they knew that the songbird had been Ekkreth all along, and that Ekkreth had watched over them, and Ar-Amu had too.

They taught every child of Ar-Amu who asked how to make the  _ tarlevu, _ ansar moons, as thanks to Ar-Amu for protecting them, and years later, when they had both married and had children, they taught them too. All the slaves in Depur’s palace knew that those Unfettered who survived their detonators could find Erato and Salha if they only asked the desert, and they would help anyone who came to them on their way, as just as it had always been, they would never leave one of their people wanting for anything.

And though Depur sent men many times to try and capture Erato and Salha, they had Ekkreth’s own luck, and for the rest of their days, not a one of Depur’s men laid a hand on them again.


End file.
